Gonzalo Cristian Uriarte Herrera (born 28 December 1964) is a Chilean politician who served as deputy and senator. He is the current ambassador of Chile to Argentina.
A member of the Independent Democratic Union (UDI). He served as a Member of the Chamber of Deputies for District No. 31 in the Metropolitan Region of Santiago for three consecutive terms between 2002 and 2014.
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Early life and education
Uriarte was born in Santiago on 28 December 1964. He is the son of Luis Uriarte Larrañaga and Sonia Mónica Ana Herrera Correa. He is married to María Sofía Valenzuela Lira and has four children.
He completed his secondary education at Colegio San Ignacio and later studied law at Diego Portales University, obtaining his law degree in March 1993.
In 2009, he completed a Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Economic and Financial Law at the University for Development (UDD), graduating on 19 March 2010. That same year, he completed a diploma program in corporate communications at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. In 2015, he graduated from the Senior Executive Management Program (PADE/ESE) of the ESE Business School at University of the Andes, Chile.
Professional career
Uriarte practiced law privately and, between 1994 and 1997, served as a lecturer in Constitutional Law at Andrés Bello University.
After completing his terms as a deputy, he returned to private legal practice as a consulting attorney at the law firm Eluchans Abogados.
Political career
Uriarte became politically active during his university years. Between 1986 and 1987, he served as president of the Student Federation of Diego Portales University. From 1988 to 1991, he served as president of the Youth Wing of the Independent Democratic Union and later became vice president of the party’s National Executive Board.
Between 1994 and 1997, he worked as a legislative advisor to Senator Hernán Larraín Fernández. He later served as coordinating attorney for legislative advisors of the UDI and Independent Senators’ Committee between 1998 and 2001.
In the parliamentary elections of December 2001, Uriarte was elected deputy for District No. 31 for the 2002–2006 term, obtaining the highest vote share with 60,495 votes (42.00%). He was re-elected in 2005 for the 2006–2010 term with 54,869 votes (34.53%) and again in 2009 for the 2010–2014 term with 60,833 votes (37.16%).
In the parliamentary elections of November 2013, he ran as a candidate for the Senate for the 4th Senatorial District in the Coquimbo Region representing the Independent Democratic Union but was not elected.